SOURCE: "Bell of Baghdad," in Archaeology, Vol. 44, No. 4, July/August, 1991, pp. 12, 14, 16.

In the following essay, Fagan discusses Bell's influence on archeological expeditions in Persia as well as her important role in the creation of the Iraq Museum.

For all its troubles in recent months, Baghdad's Iraq Museum remains one of the world's great repositories of antiquities. Like so many other major museums, it owes its existence to the vision and drive of an inspired archaeologist, in Baghdad's case the indefatigable Gertrude Bell. Born in 1868, the daughter of a wealthy English industrialist, Bell was accustomed to having her way. She entered Oxford at the age of 18 at a time when female students were not allowed outside the college precincts unchaperoned. It is said that she had the un-heard-of temerity to disagree with her examiners during her orals, a portent of things to come.

After leaving Oxford in 1892, she set...